Chinese Relics Protection Law Revision Debated Today

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Sun Langchen, 'Relics protection law revision to regulate artifacts banned from leaving China' Global Times: Nov 04, 2024.
The third draft amendment to the Law on Protection of Cultural Relics was submitted for review at the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) on Nov 04, 2024 . The draft specifies that the State Council's cultural relics administrative department will determine and publish the specific range of cultural relics prohibited from leaving the country.

In an interesting development, the draft amendment emphasizes the important role of domestic private collection activities in the protection and utilization of cultural relics and in preserving and passing down traditional Chinese culture. It therefore includes provisions encouraging citizens and organizations to legally collect cultural relics, as well as strengthening the guidance, management, and services for private collection activities. The draft amendment insists that cultural relic collection units must fulfill their due diligence obligations and verify the legality of the sources for any cultural relics they intend to acquire or purchase.

Article 79 of the second draft amendment of the law also emphasizes strengthening international cooperation in the field of cultural relics retrieval and repatriation.